Ramdara Temple, Pune

Ramdara temple is a beautiful temple and half-day picnic spot near Pune City. It was on the list for monsoon but didn’t get time to visit. Post monsoon we decided to visit the temple

Ramdara Temple

About Ramdara temple

               Ramdara temple is around 30km from Kothrud area. As it is located outskirts of Pune city, the distance may change based on your city location. Temple rebuilt in 1970 and the main shrine of the temple is Lord Shiva though idols inside the temple are of Lord Ram, Laxman and Sita.

To reach the temple from Pune city is Kothrud (Or your respective location) – Swargate – Camp area – Hadapsar – Solapur highway – cross the first Toll – Loni kalbhor – take right after crossing the small bridge (bridge on water stream) on the highway – cross small village after km drive – Ramdara temple.
The road ends at Ramdara temple so fewer chances to miss the location.

September 2018: Ramdara temple visit
                 We left home by 7-7:30AM and reached the temple after an hour drive. Landscape change after crossing Loni kalbhor area. You cannot spot temple till you reach the entrance arch. Temple is located between the hills and they have enough parking spaces under plantation. You can see beautiful temple view from Arch.

Welcome Arch

               Temple has beautiful mythology Paintings and colourful walls. You can spend an hour around the temple. The area is calm and peaceful. Lake around the temple and lots of greenery keep temple area cool. Temple has beautiful idols of Lord Ram, Laxman and Sita. It also has a shrine of Lord Shiva. Nandi in front of Temple is impressive. You see Ganesh temple as well within the temple area. Temple also have Ashram of Shri Devipuri Maharaj also known as Dhundi baba.

               There is a walkway around Lake and you can see lots of birds. There is a huge tree (Umbar tree) at the start of the walkway (near Arch) which is home to many small birds. You can spot raptor nearby area. Overall this place is a good choice to spend a couple of hours and treat to the eye during monsoon.

Ramdara Temple

Ramdara Temple

Expenses:

• Car petrol: INR 400/- (Petrol rate was around 87-88 per Lit)
• The toll on Solapur highway: INR 30/- Return
• No car parking charges

I will try to upload more and more travel blogs.
Thanks for reading this travel blog

Pritesh Kulkarni

Pune

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Weekend trip to Velas

We wanted to visit Konkan area during monsoon and we decided to visit Velas beach. It was our second visit to Velas. We contact Mohan Upadhye for stay arrangement and he offered his own house for stay. I just recovered from Surgery hence we were looking for a homestay. Mohan sir was in Mumbai for some work so he offered us his place.

Travellers for this trip were me and my wife Renuka.

way to Velas

About Velas:

Velas is a small village, famous for Olive Ridley turtle population that visits the Velas beach every year and lays their eggs during winter time. Best time to visit Velas is from Jan mid to March end. Bankot Fort is also few km away from Velas.

Best way to reach Velas is Pune - Tahmini - Mangaon - Goregaon - Mandangad - Velas. Road condition after Mandangad is in a horrible state. Also, road condition between Tahmini village and Tahmini ghat top is in a bad state.

While returning, we chose a different route. It was from Velas - Crossed Savitri river by Ferry - Harihareshwar - Goregaon - Mangaon - Tahmini - Pune. Road condition is much better than the Mandangad route. Road condition between Harihareshwar to Mandgaon (11km shorter than Harihareshwar-Goregaon) is in a horrible state.

Day 1: 29nd Sept 2018, Pune – Velas:
               We started our journey at 6 AM in the morning. We wanted to reach at Velas as soon as possible. We had our breakfast at “Quick bite” in Tahmini. Road condition till Tahmini stop was not in good shape but we gain speed after Tamhni ghat. There was beautiful greenery everywhere and a lot of flowers along the roadside making this journey more charming. It was difficult for me to go ahead without taking smalls breaks for photography.

Tahmini Ghat

              we visited Shiv temple which is just km before Devhare village. Shiv temple is small but built in Konkani style. Temple was surrounded by Forest. In the local language, it is known as Devrai. Shivling is very old and you can see other old Idols inside the temple. As per Locals, history of the temple is a cow instead of milking for her master, was delivering it on a stone in the jungle. Her annoyed master once followed her to that stone. Seeing the behaviour of the cow, he tried to axe the stone. As the axe hit the stone, the red blood emerged out of the stone. The master understood that this was not an ordinary stone; he apologized to the stone & started worshipping it. That stone is the Shiva-Linga (The symbol of Lord Shiva). I heard similar stories in different part of Konkan region.

Shiv temple at Devhare village

At Devhare Shiv temple

              We reached Velas by 1PM. Our meal arrangement was made at Chandrakant Jadhav's home who is a neighbour of Mohan Upadhye. Food was simple but tasty. after a meal, we visited Nana fadnavis (3rd Peshwa from Maratha emperor) statue as he belonged to Velas. After a quick visit, we came home for rest.

Nana fadnavis statue

              By 4:30 PM, we left for Velas beach. Velas is enclosed by mountains on three sides and open to the sea on the fourth. It is famous due to the Turtle Festival. Velas is also one of the popular breeding sites of Olive Ridley, which is an endangered species of turtle. Season to visit Velas for Turtle Festival is from January till March. Beach has black-brown soft sand and calm sea waves. Mohan Upadhye is one of the person from Velas to developed and maintained the breeding site for Turtles. we heard a lot of stories from Mohan on our first visit to Velas (the year 2015).

Sunset from Velas beach

              we returned home after a beautiful sunset from Velas beach. We had our Dinner at Suryakant Jadhav's home. Special thanks to Jadhav family for preparing separate food for me considering my post surgery requirements. Tomorrow's morning plan was to visit Velas outskirt area for birding. We got to know that Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher visit Velas every year during the Migration period. Chandrakant Jadhav knows the location so he agreed to join us.

Expenses:

• Car fuel: INR 2500/- (Fuel rate was around INR 90/-)
• Breakfast at Quick bite: approx INR 200/- for 2 people (Upama + Dosa + 2 Coffee)
• Veg meal in Dinner: INR 320/- for 2 people

Day 2: 30th Sept 2018, Velas - Pune:
              We woke up by 6 and left the room by 6:30 AM for bird watching. Suryakant Jadhav joined us and we went nearby field. We spend an hour near the water stream where Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher visits. Our waits paid off as we saw beautiful Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. I was prepared to capture in camera but missed it. We saw other forest birds and came back for breakfast.

Nearby Velas

Bird watching trail with Z security... surprisingly Dogs were quite inside forest trail so we can focus on birding!

              After breakfast, we went towards Sakhari village which is on the south of Velas. You can see kelshi beach opposite the river creek. There is also a small Beach between Velas and Sakhari. There is no route to reach the un-named beach. You have to take a forest trail to reach the beach. Beach is very small with clam waves. we spend some time and then went for Bankot Fort which is located on the north of Velas.

Un-Named untouched small Beach

              Bankot creek was a major sea trade route; hence fort was important as a watchtower for the trade route. References of this fort are found in Greek traveller Pliny’s works in first century AD, where he refers to this fort as Mandargiri or Mandgor.In 1548, Portuguese won this fort from Adilshah. Later Kanhoji Angre captured this fort. In 1818, Commander James captured the fort and named it as Fort Victoria.

View from Bankot Fort

               Main entrance of this small fort is intact. You can see water tanks, Basement room and bastion on the fort. Fort is too small that it takes hardly 15-20 min to see the entire fort. From here we can have a glimpse of Savitri River and the surrounding region. Bankot fort has an interesting connection with Sir Arthur Mallet of the Arthur seat point fame at Mahabaleshwar.  He lost his wife and 32 days old daughter in a tragic ferry mishap at the creek.

Fort Entrance

                We returned to Velas after Bankot fort visit. We packed our bags and left beautiful Velas by 12. As Mandgangad route in the horrible state so we decided to travel via Harihareshwar. There is a Ferry service to cross the Savitri river. We went to Vesai village which is just 7 km from Velas. You can cross the River along with your car. Harihareshwar is around 4 km from Bagmandla.

Savitri River

              Harihareshwar is known as Kashi of Southern India. Temple is surrounded by Holy hills named as Brahma, Vishnu, Shiv and Parvati. Temple and nearby area have huge mythology history associated with it. Pradakshina (Parikrama) route is unique and interesting. It starts behind the temple. You need to climb a small hill and then get down from another side. Take a walk around the rocky coastal hilly area which is exposed to strong sea waves and wind. Parikrama becomes very risky during high tide as the entire path is covered by sea waves with the strong water current. For monsoon, the route is closed for safety reasons.

Parikrama Path start point

Colour of Nature

              We left Harihareshwar by 2 PM and had lunch near Mhasala. We choose Tamhini Route for our return journey. Tamhini Ghat welcomed us with Heavy rainfall. We reached home safely by 9:30-10 PM

Expenses:

• Breakfast: INR 110/- for 2 people
• Car entry in Jetty with 1 person: INR 150/-
• Jetty ticket for 1 person: INR 13/-
• Parking at Harihareshwar temple: INR 40/-
• Water Bottle: INR 20/-
• Lunch at Mhasala: INR 154/- (2 Egg Burji + 2 Extra pair Pav)
• Coffee in Tahmini: INR 40/-

Contact Number for reference:

• Mohan Upadhe: 91895622778, 918983767388
• Suryakant Jadhav: 917218053041

Tahmini Ghat

I will try to upload more and more travel blogs. Thanks for reading this Travel Blog.

Pritesh Kulkarni

Pune

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Pune’s Bird Paradise - Bhigwan, Diksal bird watching in 2018

I visit Bhigwan at least once a year for bird watching and this year was not an exception to my activity. I and Renuka decided to visit this place January 2018. Every year, I visit Diksal village from Bhigwan. I heard a lot about Kumbhargaon village which is developed as a bird sanctuary and professional people to handle all type of tourists. Due to lack of time, I decided to Kumbhargaon on this trip and then to Diksal some other day.

The plan was to spend 4-5 hours in Bhigwan (the main location is known as Diksal village) and come back home by late afternoon. My friends Himanshu, Ameya, Vishal, Sanat-Nirupa, and Ashutosh joined us.

Greater Flamingo

About Bhigwan Bird sanctuary:
               Bhigwan, a catchment area of Ujani Dam, is about 105 km from Pune on the Pune-Solapur highway (NH 9). An area of about 18000 hectares has been proposed as a sanctuary for migratory birds. It is an amazing place to see wetland migratory birds like Bar-Headed Goose, Greater Flamingo, Ruddy Shelduck, many spices of ducks and many more birds.

               To reach Diksal village (near Bhigwan), the easy way is Pune – Hadapsar – Join Solapur highway – Drive your vehicle 100km from Pune on Highway – Do not use Bhigwan flyover – Take a left at Bhigwan square on the highway – Drive 3 to 3.5km – Take right for sanctuary. How to identify correct right turn is; you can spot water tank tower (yellow coloured) on that T junction on the left-hand side of the road.

GPS Location for Kumbhargaon: 18.263426, 74.803876
GPS Location for Diksal: 18.295129, 74.806933

Ready for take-off...Greater Flamingo

Jan 2018: Bhigwan Bird sanctuary:
             As we had to cover around 105-110km so we decided to leave Pune before 5:30 AM and we managed to leave on time. Soon we touched Solapur highway. Road condition of the highway was excellent. Due to the wide and smooth road, we were able to reach Bhigwan in less than 2 hours. We reached Kumbhargaon after having breakfast at restaurant Anapurna. We have informed Datta Nagare for a boat ride. Soon we took a boat ride. Electric pole-wire was occupied by Whiskered Tern.
             We travelled towards Diksal village as all

Flamingos and other birds were landed there. While going there, I got few flight photos. Soon we approached towards Flamingo. Every year I visit Diksal and my expectation was to see birding activity near Kumbhargaon. Got to know that most of the time, boats from Kumbhargaon visit Diksal for Flamingos.

Greater Flamingo

Greater Flamingo

           We spend around 1 hours watching their activity without disturbing them. By any chance, if they noticed us, they were just moving their position. A couple of times they flew away but again settled down close to our boat.Flamingo was accompanied by Seagulls, Gery Heron and Asian open billed stork.
            Grey heron is from Heron family and native throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Wetland bird can be seen at Lake, river, pond and sometimes on the sea coast. The grey heron is large (meter tall) is the size and greyish white body with grey wings with black feathers on the flanks. They have White colour head and neck with Black neck strip and black crest.

Gery Heron

Gery Heron flight

               Greater Flamingo is the largest species of flamingo. It is found in Africa, on the Indian subcontinent, in the Middle East and southern Europe. Average Life of Flamingo is 60 years. Greater Flamingos are pinkish white but Dark pink feathers with black feathers are covered underwings. You can see beautiful Display of pink colour during their Flight. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, seeds and blue-green algae. Greater Flamingo can be seen in Bhigwan but Lesser Flamingo observed rarely here.
             Asian Openbill is from Stork family. This Stork is found in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. It is greyish white with glossy black wings and tail. Their short legs are pinkish grey and reddish in colour before breeding time. Stork has a gap between a bill which uses in the handling of snails and prey.

Asian Open Billed Stork.

              We left that place to spot other birds. We went to another side of catchment area by boat. We saw a huge group of the Painted Stork. We spend an hour and watched their morning activity, sun basking etc. Besides Flamingo, we spotted Woolly Necked Stork, Coot, ibis, bar-headed goose's, Ruddy Shelduck (aka Brahmini Duck), Northern Shoveler, Garganey Duck, northern pintail and much more.
You can spot Glossy ibis, black head ibis and red napes ibis in the Bhigwan area. Ibis family is widely spread across Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. All ibis have a long curved-down bill. Glossy ibis has a reddish brown body with glossy bottle-green wings. As the name suggests, black-headed ibis has black coloured head, neck and legs whereas white colour body. Red napes ibis is also known as Indian black Ibis or black ibis. It is large in size as compare to other ibises with the glossy dark black colour body. It has a crimson red colour patch on head.

Black-headed ibis

             Ruddy shelduck in India commonly known as Brahminy Duck. Brahminy is colour shed and word is not related to any religion/Caste. The bird belongs to Anatidae family (a family which consist of Ducks, geese and Swans). It has a beautiful orange-brown body with white, black, glossy green colour on Wings. This is migratory bird and travel to India during winter for breeding. This bird mostly found in pair or pair groups as they believe in pair bonding. It has loud honking call. Duck prefer shallow water area or found on Bank of Water bodies or inland body of water. They can fly on high altitudes along with Bar-headed Goose.

Ruddy Shelduck

            Northern shoveler is also known as Shoveler duck. It is one of the commonly found duck in Europe and Asia (Winter time). Male has a dark green head, white breast and orange-Brown body. You can see multiple colours on wings such as white, glossy green, blue and brown. Female is in drab mottled brown colour. These ducks swim in a large group. Shoveler prefers to nest in a grassy area near an open freshwater body.

Northern Shoveler

              We saw around 5-6 Bar Headed Goose in Flight.  Saw a couple of Brahmin Duck pairs busy with their breakfast and some of them were resting. We kept a safe distance and I clicked a lot of Photos. We enjoyed for half an hour observing their actions. An astonishing fact about Bar Headed Goose is that they are one of the world's highest flying birds; they migrate over Himalayas (flying higher than 21000 ft.) to spend the winter in parts of India.

Bar Headed Goose

Below are snaps were taken during my various visits to Bhigwan

Ruddy Shelduck

I'm Keeping watch on you...!!!

              Common spoonbill is also known as Eurasian spoonbill and it belongs to Spoonbill family. The bird is white in colour with a white crest. Bill is of Black colour and a yellow spot at the end of the bill. The shape of Bill is similar to spoon shape.

Spoon Bill

              The painted stork is from the stork family.  Their distinctive pink tertial feathers give them their name. This large stork has a heavy yellow beak with a down-curved tip. The head is bare and orange or reddish in colour. There is a distinctive black breast band with white scaly markings. Males and females appear alike but the males of a pair are usually larger than the female. The juveniles are a brownish plumage in colour.

Wolly necked StorkPainteded Stork

              Purple moorhen is known as western swamphen. It is a Chicken sized bird with bright purple colour and red Bill. This is native Indian Bird and can be seen on freshwater bodies across India.

Purple Moorhen

             Woolly Necked Stork belongs to Stork family. The body is in deep crimson or wine red colour with a black colour skull cap. The neck is in white colour with a soft feather which gives the name as Woolly Necked Stork. It is also called as White-necked Stork. It is freshwater wetland bird found in Asia and Africa.

Deep discussion??? Wolly necked Stork

Painted Stork

Northern Shoveler

Time to leave...

Northern Shoveler

Expenses:

• Car Petrol: INR 1500/- (Avg INR 67/Lit, Total distance cover by car was 230km)
• Toll on NH-09: INR 30/- (Return toll)
• Toll 2 on NH-09: INR 50/- (Return Toll)
• Boat ride: INR 1200/- for boat (Normal chargers are INR 1400-1600/- per boat)
• Dinner at hotel Kanchan: INR 440/- for couple

Contact number:

• Bharat (Boatman from Diksal): 9766292989.
• Datta Nagare (Boatman from Kumbhargaon ): 8087767691.

I will try to upload more and more travel blogs. Thanks for reading this Travel Blog.

Pritesh Kulkarni 

Pune

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Bird watching @ Kumbhargaon and Diksal, Bhigwan 2017

I visit Bhigwan at least once a year for bird watching and this year was not an exception for my activity. I and Renuka decided to visit this place January 2017. To avoid crowd we decided to visit on weekdays. Every year, I visit Diksal village from Bhigwan. I heard a lot about Kumbhargaon village which is developed as a bird sanctuary and professional people to handle all type of tourists.
We decided to visit Kumbhargaon in the morning and sunset time at Diksal village. From last 9 years, Bharat Nagare from Diksal helping me for a boat ride. We developed good friendship bond hence Diksal visit was mandatory.

About Bhigwan Bird sanctuary:
Bhigwan, a catchment area of Ujani Dam, is about 105 km from Pune on the Pune-Solapur highway (NH 9). An area of about 18000 hectares has been proposed as a sanctuary for migratory birds. It is an amazing place to see wetland migratory birds like Bar-Headed Goose, Greater Flamingo, Ruddy Shelduck, many spices of ducks and many more birds.

To reach Diksal village (near Bhigwan), the easy way is Pune – Hadapsar – Join Solapur highway – Drive your vehicle 100km from Pune on Highway – Do not use Bhigwan flyover – Take a left at Bhigwan square on highway – Drive 3 to 3.5km – Take right for sanctuary. How to identify correct right turn is; you can spot water tank tower (yellow colored) on that T junction on the left-hand side of the road.

GPS Location for Kumbhargaon: 18.263426, 74.803876
GPS Location for Diksal: 18.295129, 74.806933

Greater Flamingo at Diksal

Jan 2017: Bhigwan Bird sanctuary:
               As we had to cover around 105-110km so we decided to leave Pune before 5 AM and we managed to leave on time. Soon we touched Solapur highway. Road condition of the highway was excellent. Due to the wide and smooth road, we were able to reach Bhigwan in less than 2 hours. We reached at Kumbhargaon first. We have informed Datta Nagare for a boat ride. Soon we took a boat ride. Electric pole-wire was occupied by Whiskered Tern.

Grey Heron after sunrise at Bhigwan

Whiskered Terns

We traveled towards Diksal village as all Flamingos and other birds were landed there. While going there, I got few flight photos. Soon we approached towards Flamingo. Every year I visit Diksal and my expectation was to see birding activity near Kumbhargaon. Got to know that most of the time, boats from Kumbhargaon visit Diksal for Flamingos.

Northen Shoveler Duck

              We spend around 1.5 hours watching their activity without disturbing them. By any chance, if they noticed us, they were just moving their position. A couple of times they flew away but again settled down close to our boat.
              Greater flamingo is the largest species of flamingo. It is found in Africa, on the Indian subcontinent, in the Middle East and southern Europe. Average Life of Flamingo is 60 years. Greater Flamingos are pinkish white but Dark pink feathers with black feathers are covered under wings. You can see beautiful Display of pink color during their Flight. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, seeds and blue-green algae. Greater Flamingo can be seen in Bhigwan but Lesser Flamingo observed rarely here.

Greater Flamingo

Glossy ibis

Greater Flamingo in flight

Take off flight by Greater Flamingo

             We left that place to spot other birds. We went on another side of catchment area by boat. We saw a huge group of Painted stork. We spend around an hour and watched their morning activity, sun basking etc. Besides Flamingo, we spotted Woolly Necked Stork, Coot, ibis, bar-headed goose's, Ruddy Shelduck (aka Brahmini Duck), Northern Shoveler, Garganey Duck, northern pintail and much more.

Northern pintail duck at Bhigwan

It's a Wake-up Time

Northern shoveler Duck

Open-billed stork at Bhigwan

ibis gang - Glossy ibis and orientail ibis

We returned to Kumbhargaon after spending more than 2-3 hours. When we reach close to the village, we saw a small group of Comb Duck. We spend an hour to observe their activity.

Comb Duck

Comb Duck

Photo finish race...Greater Flamingo

               We had a small break and then left the place. We drove the car towards Baramati for few km and took an afternoon break at newly open Food mall. We had lunch and then required power nap in a car. By 3 PM, we begin our journey towards Diksal village for evening bird sighting
               Our Friend, Bharat Nagare was waiting for us, Soon we board the boat and went for birding. My intention to capture Flamingo during sunset. I'm completely aware that capturing such a moments required luck. We decided to go for other birds until sunset time.

Oriental ibis

Open Billed stork

Northern shoveler Duck

               We saw around 5-10 Bar Headed Goose along with few Brahmin Duck busy with their breakfast and some of them were resting. We kept a safe distance and I clicked a lot of Photos. We enjoyed for an hour observing their activity. An astonishing fact about these birds is that they are one of the world's highest flying birds; they migrate over Himalayas (flying higher than 21000 ft.) to spend the winter in parts of India.

Bar-headed goose yoga

Bar-headed Goose

Let's Fly high...Bar-headed goose

               We spot a group of Flamingo and went close to them keeping a safe distance between us. Idea is to wait till sunset and capture sunset movements. Slowly large number of Flamingo groups started gathering in front of me. I was happy as everything was going into my favor. I clicked few photographs. Just before half an hour, all of sudden all decided to take a flight and went away. I missed an opportunity to capture the beautiful sunset. In wildlife photography, experience matters a lot than the opportunity.

Greater Flamingo at Diksal

Greater Flamingo at Diksal

Greater Flamingo with Sunset at Diksal

               We left the Beautiful place after sunset and had dinner at my favorite restaurant hotel Kachan. we reached Pune by 8 PM safely.

Bye, Bye Diksal...Greater Flamingos

Expenses:

• Car Petrol: INR 1000/- (Avg INR 68/Lit, Total distance cover by car was 230km)
• Toll on NH-09: INR 30/- (Return toll)
• Toll 2 on NH-09: INR 50/- (Return Toll)
• Boat ride at Kumbhargaon: INR 1000/- for boat for 2-2.30 Hrs
• Breakfast at Kumbhargaon: INR 50/- for 2 Poha
• Coffee at Kumbhargaon: INR 30/- for 1 Glass
• Lunch: INR 200-400/- for couple based on your order
• Evening boat ride at Diksal: INR 800/- for boat
• Dinner at hotel Kanchan: INR 440/- for couple

Contact number:

• Bharat (Boatman from Diksal): 9766292989. 
• Datta Nagare (Boatman from Kumbhargaon ): 8087767691.

I will try to upload more and more travel blogs. Thanks for reading this Travel Blog.

Pritesh Kulkarni 

Pune

Read More